Price indicator



Nov. 6; E923.

H. R. GOTTFRIED PRICE INDICATOR Filed Aug- 41. 1922 HR. 00 fix 1166 d.

Patented Nov. 3, i923.

HERBERT R. GOTTFRIED,

lh liifiiiti TNT FFEQ.

OF ERIE, PENNSYLVANIA.

PRICE INDICATOR.

Application filed August 1, 1922. Serial 1T0. 578,965.

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, HERBERT R. GOTT- rnrnn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Erie, in the county of Erie and State of Pennsylvania, have invented'certain new and useful Improvements in Price Indicators, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to devices for displaying price marks in connection with articles of merchandise and is intended more particularly for use in connection with store shelves to clearly display numerals indicating the price of goods upon the shelves.

" Various devices have been heretofore provided for displaying price marks, and these devices, as most commonly used, comprise holders of some form in which are removably and interchangeably engaged small tags or tickets having price-indicating numerals printed or otherwise caused to appear upon their faces. Thesedevices necessitate the provision of a large number of tags which are small and are frequently lost so that the stock of tags must be constantly replenished, thereby causing annoyance to the storekeeper and, in many instances. being a considerable overhead expense. My invention provides means which may be readily set to display any desired price designation and which will not require the use of a large number of interchangeable tags so that the expense due to replacing lost tags will be avoided and the delay which is dueto asserting from a large number of tags the particular tags which may be needed will be overcome. My invention provides a casing which may be readily detachably secured to a shelf and in which is a changeable mechanism which may be easily and quickly adjusted to display the desired numerals and which will not be apt to be accidentally moved out of its set position. The invention consists in certain novel features which will be hereinafter first fully described and then particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings, which fully illustrate my invention,-

Figure 1 is a perespective View of the improved price indicator in operative position;

Fig. 2 is a view, partly in horizontal section and partly in top plan, of the device;

. Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a transverse vertical section on the line 44 of Fig. 3, and

Fig. 5 is a detail view showing a formof attaching means differing from that shown in the other figures.

In carrying out my invention, I employ a casing 1 which may be of any convenient form and dimensions, being preferably rectangular in form so that the outer wall thereof will be parallel with the edge of the shelf 2 to which the device is applied. The front wall of the casing is provided with sight openings 3 through which the prioe-indi eating numerals may be read, and these openings are preferably glazed, as shown at l. The casing will preferably be constructed of sheet metal and the top thereof will be extended beyond the rear wall, as shown at 5, to provide a member which will project over the shelf and rest upon the upper surface thereof to aid in supporting the casing in position. At an intermediate point of the height of the back wall 6 of the casing, I provide a laterally projecting lip or plate 7 which may be formed by doubling the intermediate portion of the wall upon itself, as shown in Fig. 4, this doubled projecting portion being spring tempered so that, if the device be brought into position with the edge of the shelf 2 disposed between the members 5 and 7, the said members will exert a sufficient frictional pressure upon the shelf to firmly support the device. This means for supporting the device also permits it to be shifted along the edge of the shelf so that it may beset at such point as is most convenient and least apt to interfere with the movements of salesmen. in removing goods from the shelf for delivery to customers, besides facilitating the withdrawal of the device from the shelf when all of the goods upon a shelf have been sold.

Within. the casing, adjacent the centers and the ends thereof, I mount the vertical spindles 8 and 9 which carry drums or spools 10 and 11, respectively, and a display belt or web 12 is trained around these spools, as will be readily understood. I also provide idle rollers 13 within the casing adjacent the front wall thereof and at the opposite sides of the sight openings 3 therein, the webs or aprons 12 being trained around the said idlers so'that the foremost portions of the" webs will be disposed parallel With the front wall ofthe casing and .will therefore,

andconfusion or mistake in the reading will be avoided. The display webs are or such length that they will fit closely about the perfectly smooth surface will be presented byfthe webs; to the sight openings and aclear display of the price-indicating numer alswill be attained. It will be readily noted that a web and pair of spools are provided for each sight opening and, in the present instance,,r two webs and sight openings are illustrated. two sight openings will be sufficient, but, if a larger device having a. greater number of sight openings is desirable, the employment of such larger device will not involve any departurefrom my invention. It will also be noted that the inner spool 10 is of greater diameter than the spool 11 nearer the end of the casing. This difference in diameters of the spools provides. spaces at the corners of the casing to facilitate the assembling of the parts, but it will, of course, be understood that the spools may be of the same diameter if preferred, The spools are provided with annular flanges or heads 14: at their upper and lower endsgwhich headsgor flangesserveto maintain the display'web in the proper horizontal position and they are alsoconstructed with annular grooves 15 to the sight openings.

receive belts 16 whereby simultaneous. rotation of the spools in a set may be efi'ected. The inner larger spools 10 have their spindles 8 extended through the bottom wall of the casing and equipped withvmilled heads 17 wherebyfthey may be manually rotated and digits are painted, printed, or otherwise displayed upon the web,-as shown at 18, so-

that by rotating the milled he ads l'i', the

displaywebs or aprons willbe easily shifted to bring any desired digitinto view behind A spring 19, is coiled around, the upper portion of the spindle 8 and bears against the upper end of thespool 10 and also against a Washer 20 arranged around the spindleimmediately below the top. f wall of the casing. The expansion of this spring causes it to bear frictionally against V the upper end of the spooland'against the said Washer and serve as a brake to prevent the, spoolsbeing turned so. rapidly as to prevent accuracy in the setting of the webs, and also to hold the spools and the webs mounted thereon in theposition in which t ev ai s i, i 'While .I' prefer to employ the supporting means previously described and consisting of the members 5 and 7 ,it may sometimes be so that the device Ordinarily a device having lower'ends of the spools the upper ends thereof.

J is claimed as new is:

sight opening 1 n price indicator'comprising a'casing I 'provided with adjacent sightopeningsin I itsfront wall, means upon the backwall of:

the casing to support itupon' the. edge of a shelf, sets of spools disposed 7 within the cas I desirable to provide a more positive clamp- I in the previously described arrangement,'

and in the projecting member I provide a threaded opening through which is en .gaged a thumb bolt 21 havingits upperend circumferences of the spools 10 and 11 and will be taut between the idlers 13 so that a 24 of the thumb bolt so as to rotate the bolt r about its own axis, theshelf. will be very securely clamped against the upper plate -5' will be fixed in position upon the shelf. 7 V

. It is thought the manner of usingmy deviceis evident from what has been said and it will be noted that the device is exceeding- .ly simple and free from complicatedarf rangemen-ts or eonstructions'so that it may be produced at a low cost, is not apt to getout of order, and will always be available when needed. The rotation of the milled heads 17 of the spindles 8 will quickly bring the desired digits into view through the sight openings so that the displaying of the desired price indications in connection with the goods offered for sale may be very expeditlously accomplished. In the, present drawings, I have shown thebelts l6 dis-- posed-about the upper endsofrthe spools gonly, but itis obvious that they maybe'ar! ranged about the lower ends of the spools also or,1if preferred, may be ldisposedat the and omitted from Havm g thus described I 1. A price indicator comprising a casing havmga sight openlng in ts front wall,

the invention, what '7 means projecting from the back wall of the V feas ng to supportthe same upon the edge of a shelf, a pair of spools disposedjwithin. j the casing, means acting upon 'the spindle of {one Qfsaid spools to effect rotation of the same, motion-transmitting means operative l ly'connecting the spools, idlersladjacent the front wall of the casingat opposite sides of thesight opening therein 7 and an endless. display web trained about both said spools and the idlers and across thewsightopening the. casing parallelwith'the plane of said ing, one spool of each set being-disposed approxim ately in alinement'with a sight open-7 mvepao irfilg connected with some of the spools for e eoting rotation of the same, motion-transmitting means operatively connecting the spools'whereby simultaneous rotation of the spools in a set will be effected, idlers disposed in advance of the spools at opposite sides of each of the sight openings in the casing and arranged in a plane parallel with the front wall of the casing, and endless display webs trained about the spools and m about the said idlers.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

HERBERT R. GOTTFRIED. 

